House endorses broadcasting bill

House endorses broadcasting bill

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives endorsed the
government-sponsored broadcasting bill yesterday, the second time
in less than 12 months, after the first one was rejected by
President Soeharto.

The chief difference now is that state-run TVRI is not
permitted to run commercials, not even selected ones as stated in
the first bill, and private stations are permitted greater reach.

Private TV stations also won reprieve in the licensing
mechanism. They will be given 10-year renewable licenses, and not
five-year licenses as in the first bill. However, radio station
licenses will still be limited to five years.

All 290 legislators present at the plenary session said "yes"
to Deputy House Speaker Sutedjo's offer for unanimous approval.

The bill was the last to be completed by the House which will
be dissolved at the end of this month to make way for new
legislators elected in the May general election.

Some legislators raised their hands demanding that they be
allowed to make additional comments. But Sutedjo ruled out the
possibility saying that the final remarks had already been
provided by each faction through their respective spokespeople.

The bill will now go to President Soeharto for his signature
before it becomes law.

Yesterday's endorsement brought an end to the long saga over
the broadcasting bill, which was first submitted by the
government in March last year.

The document went through one of the toughest deliberations
ever given to a bill in the history of the New Order, reflecting
the growing power of the commercial TV lobby in relation to TVRI,
which currently holds a monopoly over all broadcasting.

There had been attempts to allow TVRI, which has a national
reach, to tap advertising income, but the move was thwarted and
the state network will continue to rely on license fees,
government subsidies and royalties from commercial stations.

The five private TV networks -- RCTI, SCTV, TPI, ANteve and
Indosiar -- are owned by politically connected people. They will
continue to pay royalties to TVRI under the new law, but they
will have greater freedom, such as producing and airing their own
news, besides having to relay TVRI news.

When the bill was endorsed the first time in December, there
were 20 additional articles to the original 58.

Delays in the signing of the bill by President Soeharto
brought various speculation, and some analysts linked it to the
replacement of long-time minister of information Harmoko by R.
Hartono in June.

One of Hartono's first jobs was to announce the government's
intention to submit the bill again for redeliberation, explaining
that some of the articles could not be implemented.

The bill was formally submitted again in July and the
deliberation, which began last month, had focused on four or five
articles.

The House, already pressed with various bills to complete
before the end of its term this month, set up a special committee
to work with the government to discuss the bill again. The
committee consisted of Hartono, nine legislators from the
dominant Golkar faction, four from the United Development Party,
three from the Indonesian Democratic Party and four from the
Armed Forces faction.

After the plenary session, Hartono told reporters he could now
relax after a month of endless meetings.

"Together, we've succeeded in improving the bill. We hope that
the President will endorse it soon," he said.

He said once the law was enacted, the ministry would
immediately issue decrees to implement the legislation.

"The government really appreciates the House for its kindness
to redeliberate the bill, so both parties can provide unanimous
alternatives for government policies," he said.

Hartono described the redeliberation process as active and
dynamic, colored with live debate.

"The revised broadcasting bill was a result of a unanimous
agreement between the House and the government," he said.

The broadcasting bill was significant for the development of
communication and information technology, as well as global
broadcasting, he said.

Articles in the bill should accommodate present and future
conditions in the broadcasting industry, Hartono said.
(imn/emb/amd)

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